Chapter 81 - Tidal Wave
Theo froze for a moment.
’’A spell?’’
Elise nodded once.
His gaze dropped to her staff, watching the water coiling around it.
’’Is it... that?’’
Elise followed his gaze for a moment before nodding again.
’’The spell’s name is Tidal Wave,’’ she said, her expression unchanged. ’’It’ll work perfectly around that... strange umbrella.’’
Theo looked at her for a moment.
He couldn’t believe his ice-cold instructor was willing to part a spell onto him.
’But I’m not detecting any lies,’ he thought, incredulously.
’’Naturally, it isn’t about the spell itself,’’ Elise added. ’’But it’ll be a reason to not use your spear even outside the training grounds.’’
Theo snapped out of his daze, nodding immediately.
’’I understand,’’ he said.
Elise studied him for a brief moment, then dropped another fact like it was nothing.
’’It’s a Bronze-entry spell that can grow all the way to Diamond level.’’
Theo’s eyes widened immediately.
’Diamond?’
That was... beyond a simple gift.
Elise didn’t give him time to dwell on it.
’’I’ll give you the Bronze and Silver stages for free,’’ she continued. ’’After that, you’ll pay for the remaining stages.’’
Theo fell silent for a moment.
Then he nodded.
’’That’s more than enough.’’
She had brought him back to reality.
Spells like that were easily worth tens of, if not hundreds of millions.
There was no way he’d get everything for free.
’But just the beginning is good enough,’
he thought, clenching his fist. ’I can just buy the rest later.’ Seeing Theo leave his thoughts, Elise gave a small nod.
’’Good,’’ she said.
She pulled a thin manual out of her pocket the next second, tossing it towards Theo.
’’Read through this first.’’
Theo caught it, stunned.
Then he nodded.
Without another thought, he sat down on the floor and opened the manual.
’Okay,’ he thought, calming himself. ’Let’s get started.’
Theo skipped past the introduction, landing on the Bronze Core stage right away.
’This stage is called the Tidal Guard.’
’It creates a swirling stream of water around your weapon, allowing for both perfect defense and counter-attacks.’
He continued flipping through the manual, calmly reading each page.
Especially the graphs and sketches showing the proper mana paths were taken in with great detail.
After twenty minutes, he finally stood up.
’’I got this,’’ he muttered, closing his eyes for a moment.
Elise looked on from the side, a hint of interest finally revealing itself on her face.
Theo held his umbrella in front of him, focusing deeply.
He poured mana through the shaft, slowly manifesting a small stream of water around it.
’Keep this up,’ he thought, gripping the shaft tightly. ’This spell isn’t about raw amounts of mana, but keeping the stream rotating.’
That was the greatest force behind the spell.
Rotation.
Each time he moved the umbrella, the water should flow in a similar direction.
That is what created the force that had sent him flying earlier.
Theo steadied his breathing, focusing even more.
Even so, the stream around his umbrella wavered, only to collapse completely seconds later.
His eyes opened again.
’’Almost,’’ he muttered.
Elise looked on from the distance, one of her eyebrows raised.
Her expression quickly went back to emotionless as she took a step closer.
’’Do you see what you did wrong?’’
Theo glanced at her, shaking his head after a second.
Elise picked her staff up, raising it right under Theo’s face.
’’Look.’’
A thin water stream popped up, swirling around the staff calmly.
Suddenly, she pushed her finger into the stream.
Theo’s eyes widened slightly, half expecting something to change.
But... nothing happened.
That’s when Elise spoke up again.
’’Water is formless and shapeless,’’ she said. ’’Why should one force it to be something it doesn’t want to be?’’
Theo’s eyes widened even further, finally realizing.
His eyes went to her finger again, seeing the water calmly stream around it.
With that, he immediately closed his eyes.
He raised his umbrella in front of him, slowly manifesting a stream of water at the tip.
This time, he didn’t force it into a swirling motion.
Instead, he let it move.
The stream wavered slightly at first, drifting along the canopy without direction.
Theo didn’t interfere much, only guiding it a little.
Outside, Elise looked at him with narrowed eyes.
The stream no longer broke apart, instead forming a small but stable rotation.
She remained silent, watching closely.
’Who is this kid?’ she thought, her gaze sharpening.
He had two affinities despite being a Bronze Core.
Both were SSS-rank.
And now this...
’He understood the foundation of the spell with only a little hint,’ she thought. ’That’s not even close to normal.’
She paused for a moment, her mind flickering back to the day before.
In just two days’ time, not one, but two youngsters had surprised her immensely.
’Is he some sort of lab experiment like that Earth element kid?’
Her eyes narrowed even further.
But she said nothing.
Theo slowly opened his eyes, still maintaining the rotation.
’I did it,’ he thought.
Before he could think further, Elise’s voice cut in.
’’Now swing your umbrella towards me.’’
Theo nodded, turning to her.
He stepped forward and swung it in a clean arc.
As the weapons collided, a weak wave pushed forward.
It scattered against her staff like nothing the next second.
Theo frowned slightly.
’’The force... isn’t here?’’
He’d done everything exactly as explained in the manual.
The water went in the same direction during the swing, which was supposed to be the spell’s greatest force.
’...But why does it feel incomplete?’
Elise, on the other hand, didn’t seem particularly surprised about it.
’’Of course it isn’t,’’ she said calmly.
Theo looked at her, tilting his head slightly.
’’Then what am I missing?’’
Elise held his gaze for a moment.
’’That is something I cannot explain,’’ she said emotionlessly. ’’It’s best to find it out yourself.’’
Theo blinked, tilting his head even further.
’’...What?’’
She calmly walked across the room, putting her bo staff back in the weapons rack.
Just as Theo thought she wouldn’t say anything more, her voice rang out.
’’Observe the ocean.’’
Theo frowned, clearly unsatisfied.
’’That’s it?’’
Elise turned back, staring at him coldly.
Then, she nodded once.
"Come back when you understand what you’re missing."
With that, she wandered to the exit.